Chris Watson, Bookends: His brain is hanging upside down

In the middle of last century, most American parents didn't complain too loudly when their kids spent their allowances on the comic book adventures of Spider-man, X-Men or the Green Lantern.

Parents' passive approval changed, however, with the underground comics revolution of the '60s and the alternative comics trend of the '70s -- decades in which graphic sex and violence became mainstream narratives in comics.

David Heatley's new book, "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down," is not a book most parents will want their elementary school-age children reading.

Also influential was Ware's "Acme Novelty Library" -- the formal sophistication, the transitions and technique, and especially Ware's story about reconnecting with his father.

"I saw that you could tell any story you wanted -- a meditation, a slice of life -- anything. The range was infinite. Comics became my preferred medium for getting art."

With the added influence of confessional/autobiographical comics artists like Aline Crumb, Justin Green and Julies Doucet, Heatley was ready to tackle a book of his own.

"My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" is comprised of five distinct narratives about Heatley's youth, about his ups and downs at home, at school, on the streets and -- well -- in the bedroom looking for love.

Starting with a chapter on Sex, Heatley continues with Race, moves on to Mom, then Dad, and closes with Kin -- the entire book dotted with bizarre dreams that any shrink would enjoy deconstructing.

In the sex chapter the genitalia pinked out, Heatley dances around the humiliations of young love, the his virulent sex drive, homosexual escapades, jealousy, porno, orgies, Barry White, onanism and the need for mix tapes.

In the race chapter illustrated in black and white, he remembers his many black friends and enemies, his activism, Mumia Abu-Jamal, breakdancing, rap and hip-hop and his long respect for Malcolm X.

"I wanted to be as frank about race as about sex," he said. "White people don't write about race in this country and, growing up in Brooklyn, my identity was tied up with race."

The first two chapters of "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" provide, by far, the most explosive and compelling moments of this book. The chapters on Mom, Dad and Kin are comparatively innocuous.

Although he currently practices music in tandem with his art, Heatley looks forward to creating another autobiographical book.

"I like conceptual art projects with a game to them -- like grouping all the black people I know into a comic strip and seeing if I can make any sort of generalization about them." He'd like to try something similar with the jobs he's held over the years, he said.

"I'd like to do a meditation on work, to look at my jobs and see if I can generalize from them what it means to be a man."